Cold Winter Nights
by Addictedtobooks
Summary: It's a cold holiday night and all Toza wants to do is get out of the holiday congestion and be home in peace. All that changes though when a young boy and his brother bump into him. Lame summaries are lame! please read and review though :


**A/N: Hey guys, so this is just a writing prompt I got from tumblr (The night Toza found Mako). This is just what I came up with! Iunno if any of the actual story was said on the show, but this is what I thought up, so please enjoy and review :D (reviews are better than chocolate!)**

_Loud, cold, and busy, just like normal, _Toza thought, grumbling as he made it through the busy holiday traffic. He grumbled even more as he saw it beginning to snow.

Toza looked around, seeing the few satomobiles that had made an appearance whizzing by on the roads, the new taxis not even stopping to see if he needed a ride. No use even if they did though, he would have just walked anyway.

"Bolin, stop, we can't do that." Toza heard a voice call out before he felt a solid thud in the back of his leg. Blinking in shock, he spun around, about to yell at whomever bumped him before he saw who it was: a tiny black-haired boy with bright green eyes, no older than ten. The boy had fallen back on his bottom and started wailing.

"I'm sorry, sir," Toza looked up, a boy a few years older running up, "My brother didn't mean to run into you, he was just… We've been looking for food and… he saw your groceries. I'm sorry." He stumbled both over his feet and words, kneeling down to his crying brother but still looking at the man above him.

Toza didn'tknow what to say, "No problem," he mumbled, starting to walk away.

"It's okay, Bo, we'll find some food. Hey, come on, stop crying already," Toza sighed, loudly and impatiently.

He turned back to the place of meeting these two young boys and knelt down next to the older boy, noticing his eyes were far different than those of his brothers. Toza compared them a bit, earth bending eyes and fire bending, he concluded. "Where are your parents?"

"Our parents passed away a four years ago." the young black haired boy of what looked to be eleven or twelve answered. He looked down at his brother, helping him and whipping his face.

Toza said nothing, but pulled a tissue out of his coat for the younger boy, "Here," he said, gentler than he had ever remembered talking, "Try this."

The boy sniffled, but took the tissue and wiped his face and nose, trying to stop his crying

"So, if your parents are gone, do you have nowhere to be for the holidays?" He asked, looking at the older boy.

At first he said nothing, looking down at his brother. A minute later he shook his head, "No, sir."

Toza groaned inwardly, "Well c'mon then." He mumbled.

"What?"

"You can have dinner at my house," he said, getting up. Both boys fell silent, looking up at the man with wide, unsure eyes, "Oh come on, I have lots of food,"

The older boy began to grin, helping his younger brother up, "Thank you, sir!"

The younger boy got up and rammed himself back into the man's leg, hugging him this time. "Thank you!" He cheered with a dopey smile on his face.

Toza blinked, unsure of what to say or how to respond, he couldn't remember anyone thanking him and meaning it before. He led the boys to his home, with hardly any chatter between the three of them. "Here we are, I'll make some supper." He cooked a quick, small, meal and had it out for them in a hurry, "There." He said, sitting it in front of the two boys, "eat up."

And they did. The two black-haired kids ate like they had never seen food before. Toza was amazed; he had never seen anyone eat so quickly before. "What are your names?" he asked, sipping some tea.

The older boy responded first, "Well I'm Mako, and this is my younger brother Bo-"

"Bolin!" the boy yelled on time, food still in his mouth. His brother shot him a look of disapproval and shushed him.

Toza was a bit shocked and impressed by Mako's 'parenting' role in their relationship, but didn't comment on it. Instead he just cleared his throat, "So you boys all on your own then?"

Mako nodded, answering for them again, "Yes, but we're making it okay." _Lie,_ Toza thought, knowing he wasn't telling the truth.

"Have you tried going to an orphanage?"

"Yes," Mako said, his nose scrunching, "They weren't much help."

Toza sighed, "Well. How about I show you my friend's orphanage?" he suggested, chuckling as he watched Bolin play with his food.

Mako noticed as well, but was too busy contemplating over Toza's offer to say anything to his brother, "Well, I guess we could try."

"Perfect, we'll go after dinner." And they did. Toza wasn't sure the connection he was making with these boys, but there definitely was one there. He took and ended up leaving the boys at the orphanage, being promised by his friend that the boys would not be split up from another; that both would make it to loving families.

"Mako, where do these ones go?"

Mako sighed, turning to his younger brother, "This pile, Bo." The two brothers were in a stuffy office for the third day in a row, filing miscellaneous paper work. It wasn't the best of jobs, but it was a job.

"Oh, I get it now!" Bolin said, and re-sorted a few sheets of paper. As usual, he sorted the paper into the wrong piles, forcing Mako to re-sort them while he wasn't looking.

Mako smiled at his brother, "Good job. We only have a little bit left now, and then we can get some money and buy a bit of dinner. We can have a bit of a feast for the holidays!" He said, grinning along with his brother. Neither of them liked filing paper for the Triple Threat Triad, but the money wasn't completely awful.

After a few more minutes they were done and managed to collect their pay, "Let's go, Mako! I'm starving!"

Mako laughed at his brother, counting the money quickly before leaving the office, "Alright, alright, I'm coming!" They quickly made their way through the congested streets, dodging person after person, before making it to the grocery store.

"Can we get dumplings?" Bolin asked, his dopey smile plastered on his face

Mako laughed, nodding, "Sure, a bit of a holiday treat." The two went in, spending over have their earnings on three ready-to-eat dumplings. "Let's find somewhere warm and dry to eat these."

The two went back out onto the street. It was just as busy as before, and with dumplings in each of the brother's hands it was hard to keep form bumping into people. Bolin was especially clumsy, losing his footing on a small patch of ice and bumping into someone ahead of him, landing on his rear end.

"Ouch! Watch where you're… Bolin?"

Bolin looked up, "Toza?"

The older gentleman looked exactly the same, minus he now had greyer hair and beard. He looked down at the boy in front of him, almost as if he were confused, "What are you two doing alone again? Shouldn't you be with your family celebrating the holiday? Or are you still at the orphanage?"

Mako sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and trying not to look too guilty, "We… never stayed at the orphanage, Toza." The fire bender admitted, helping his brother up.

Toza grumbled loudly, "What do you mean you never… After all I did… I…" He would have continued but there was something on their faces that stopped the words on his lips. He sighed loudly, there was something about these two boys that got to him like nothing else could. "You still have no place to stay?" he asked, trying his best not to sound grumpy.

Bolin, for once, answered first, shaking his head, "No, not after we ran."

"You ran from-" Toza began before calming himself down again, sighing impatiently as usual. "Come on. I have an extra room now." He mumbled, waving them forward.

"What?" Mako asked, following him, "You'll let us stay with you? Why?"

Toza looked over at him and studied the young man, "I honestly can't tell you why. But I have a small attic apartment. You boys are welcomed to it."

The young fourteen and sixteen year olds grinned at each other, "Thanks Toza." They said in unison.

Toza turned, once again astonished by the two brother's sincerity. "Anytime."

**A/N: By the way please check out my tumblr or PM me if you have any writing prompts! I'm always open to stuff like that!**


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